There are a lot of times where I look at my life in a ‘before and after’ type of lens. What I mean when I say this is that for so long, my identity as a disabled queer person was something that I went out of my way to hide from others. Even to people who were closest to me in my life.

I was born disabled. I have Marfan Syndrome and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. I was told I have a “spontaneous mutation”, which to me mostly just meant there was no one around who looked like me or went through similar things. I felt different. I carried a lot of heavy and conflicting feelings pertaining to my identity. Whenever I did talk openly to someone about my disability, I felt like it was this metaphorical bomb being dropped. I always felt like I had this need to constantly “come out” to people. Like I owed an explanation for why my body was shaped uniquely, or questions about my wheelchair or feeding tubes.